Improved arrangement of center-board and rudder for shoal-water vessels



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

`GEORGE CHASE, OF PBUDENCE ISLAND, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVED ARRANGEMENI 0F CENTER-BOARD AND RUDDER FOR SHOAL-WATER VESSELS.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 9,574, dated February8, i853.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, GEORGE CHASE, of Prudence Island, in the county ot'Newport and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in the Method of I-Iangingthe Sliding Keels orCenter-Boards and Rudders of Vessels; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part thereof,and which represents a side view ot' the hull of a vessel with thecenter-board and rudder attached.

The nature of my invention consists in providing a vessel with astern-post which may slide up and down in guides or ways and inattaching thereto the rudder, as also the rear end of the center-board,(the front end being hinged by .a pin or otherwise near the bow,) sothat when the center-board strikes in shalA low water7 or when Ait israised or lowered for any purpose whatever, the rudder shall also riseor fall with it, thus always maintaining the same relative positionswith regard to each other, and by which means the rudder may extend downas low as the bottom of the center-board, yet be entirely free frombeing broken or unshipped when running in shallow water, and at alltimes indicate the position of the center-board and rudder.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same, with reference to the drawing, in which- Arepresents the hull of a vessel, and B the center-board or sliding keel,which is hinged by a pin a near the bow and rises and falls in a grooveinthe bottom ot the vessel. A stern-post C is attached to the vessel byguides i) b, through which it may rise and fall, and the rear end of thecenter-board is also attached to this stern-post C, so that one shallalways move with the other and still maintain the same relativepositions with regard to each other. The rudder D is hung to thestern-post C by any of the common and wellknown means, and the helm Emay pass through a slot in said stern-post or straddle it, so that therudder may be freely worked without cramping the helm in the stern-post.

The black lines represent the position of the rudder and center-boardwhen down, and the red lines the same when raised up, the principalobject being to make the centerboard, when striking in shallow water orat other times, raise up the rudder with it, so that neither shall bebroken or unshipped, while the rudder may at all times extend down asfar as the bottom line of the sliding center-board or keel. In largervessels it may be found necessary to rig the stern-post by rack andpinion, block and tackle, or to the vessels windlass for the purpose ofraising up the said parts, and a catch for holding; but when approachingshallow water all such connections should be let go, so as to allow thecenter-board to rise the moment she strikes. It will, however, be foundmore essential and applicable to small coasting-vessels or sail-boatsnavigating small inlets, rivers, tbc. The hanging of the rudder andcenter-board to the` sliding-stern-post also serves the purpose ofindicating by the 'position of said stern-post the position of therudder and center-board, whether up or down, and to what extent.

I am aware that one rudder made to slide within the other and attachedto a centerboard has been used so that one shall rise with the other;but in this case there is no indication by which it can be known whenthe sliding rudder is up or down, and when used thus I lay no claim tothem; but

Vhat I do claim herein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

Attaching the rear end ot' the movable cenf ter-board and the rudder tothe sliding sternpost, so that the said center-board, stern-post, andrudder may be raised or lowered together, substantially as described,and by which means I only use a single rudder, whose position can alwaysbe known by the height of the stern-post, to which it is hung, as alsothat of the center-board, the sliding stern-post Serving as an indicatorto the positions of both.

GEORGE CHASE. Witnesses:

T. C. DONN, A. B. STOUGHTON.

